The long polar night will never be the same.
Mika is a young white polar bear whose imagination works double-time—particularly at bedtime.
His cousin, Vanilla (a surprising name for a black bear), comes to visit just before the longest night of the year and tries to help him work through his fears. With a trusty “torch” (a flashlight—clearly the translator was influenced by British idiom), Vanilla helps him see that the Giant Snow Monster with the gun is only a snowman with a plain old broom, and the dark shadows are not hunters with weapons but penguins with ice-fishing equipment. Two “huge snakes” (apparently this Arctic has snakes as well as penguins) turn out to be skis. A “dragon” becomes a friendly sled dog, and a spider turns out to be a black umbrella. Mika even begins to take charge when Vanilla seems to be frightened of two heads on a wall. The white bear confidently tells his cousin: “Don’t tell me you’re scared of a mirror!” Translated from the French, this is a story meant to help children work through their fears. It doesn’t quite make enough sense. Although readers are shown the objects that Mika fears, they never see the mirror that so throws Vanilla. But the bold pictures and the retro colors are fun. And just what is that red alien stuffed toy with one cyclopean eye that Mika drags everywhere?
The long polar night will never be the same. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-2-7338-4325-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Auzou Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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